I don't see how the Sun can possibly win this one....they've been without TUck for a few games...Kizer was out for the last one...the post is weakened and if those two are out again...The Liberty will foul out JJ ...game, set , match....

Connecticut has been on a bit of a roll lately. Sure it's only win's are against San Antonio and Chicago and Atlanta but it was the first time in 2 years that Connecticut beat Atlanta.

The Sun are without Morgan Tuck and Lynetta Kizer's status for the game is unknown at this point. Signing Kayla Pedersen will give Connecticut a little boost in defense. Jonquel Jones may bet into foul trouble in this game, but Tina Charles isn't prone to foul trouble too. The Sun are going to have to get good use of all of it's post players (Jonquel, Alyssa, Lynetta if she's playing, Brionna, Pedersen and hopefully if Danielle comes in, she can hit some 3's.

I think a big key to this game is Jasmine Thomas, Courtney Williams and Shekinna Stricklen. If all three hit their shots at a good clip, the Sun can win. Also key is trying to slow down Tina Charles, but if you slow down Charles, you also have to slow down Stokes.

I can see Jonquel Jones in the paint trying to defend both Charles and Stokes and fouling out. Miller has to be smart about his game plan and substitutions to keep Jones out of foul trouble. His game plan worked against Atlanta where his focus was taking Tiffany Hayes out of the game and it worked.

If the Sun can beat Atlanta for the first time in 2 years, even if it was without McCoughtry, they can beat New York... but I doubt it.

Connecticut's guard rotation is kind of pathetic. All they have is Jasmine Thomas and Courtney Williams. Rachel Banham will get minute and do nothing but be terrible like usual and Feyonda Fitzgerald won't be much of a scoring threat either. Thomas and Williams will be playing close to 40 minutes each. I don't see Jonquel Jones rebounding in double figures in this game. Not when she's up against super rebounders Charles and Stokes.

If the Sun have any chance at winning this game, Jonquel Jones is going to have to go all out and play beyond her years even more than she has been this season so far.

Didn't notice Kizer on the video of training. And also didn't see Alisa. Only 9 players.

Since when is A. Thomas injured?

She finished last game normally (except terrible ft shooting). So this is only thing I now. Also CT twitter has picture where she and Linette visited Summer Fitness Challenge. But I don't think its reasonable reason) to miss practice)

I'm always wary of games like this where the thought is that we are a prohibitive favorite. Laimbeer mentioned Stokes was fatigued after the last game. No surprise as she has played very, very hard, physical minutes of late. Against a team that is more oriented toward quickness than size inside, curious to see how much run Nayo gets. But that's probably largely dependent on how Kiah performs.

That was upsetting on a number of levels. But I think having CT take it to NY physically is the most disappointing part. The urgency level is much higher on CTs side.

Rodgers has largely been a non-entity on both ends. Defensively the Libs yielded uncontested shots to players for just about the entire first quarter and it's a team with good perimeter players. Toss in 20 paint points and NY is doing very little within its identity to deter a hot and confident offensive team.

I'd expect more Liberty type defense in the second half. Whether we have enough offense to eliminate a 15 point lead is open to question. Curt Miller appears to have scouted the Libs very well and has his team buying in on the defensive end. Other than Z creating her shot 1-on-1 and neutralizing Nayo, they've done a terrific job on help defense and taking away the strengths of Sugar, Tina and Kiah.

Among other things CT had only one first half TO. There were a few loose balls that the Libs just didn't get after. It speaks to the Libs being really lacking in the energy needed to win.

Lindsay Allen has also passed up a few wide open shots. The absence of Piph really shows in this game so far in terms of the sagging CT D.

Disappointing game for Stokes. 1 point 2 rebounds. Unlike early games where I felt her lack of presence was a primary reason for poor team defense tonight I'd say it's more equal opportunity. Still, in reference to Kiah, she goes we go.

Definitely a reminder of what the Libs need to do to win, no question. I'd be more concerned if this happened with NY at full strength. CTs game plan was well-designed in ignoring certain non-threats in certain places on the floor.

They have a lot of talent. Miller took a lot of heat last year but he's clearly done a lot of things right. The Jones and Williams acquisitions look great. He or someone on the staff has likely had a heavy influence in accelerating Jones' development. And when you have 5 threats to score on the floor it works wonders.

Bill should rip them apart and tell them how soft they played and you can't take days off in the W...its a fact

I don't think there will be any sugar coating the performance at all. Not only from the physical effort aspect but also whatever mental errors on defense there were. The way they broke down NYs defense at will you have to figure there were plenty.

As soon as the Libs cut the lead to 9, CT immediately went on a 7-0 run...effortlessly. So many reminders that we don't have the talent to win on that alone, as Herb Brooks would say. I expected CT to be less physically engaging. I was wrong. However on Friday we play a team that is unequivocally NOT physically engaging. We play our game we'll win that one. Hopefully that's what happens and then we have a week to focus on payback vs. the Sun. It'll likely be a tough game but I don't expect a lack of energy to be NYs undoing.

We also really need more consistency from Stokes. In 2015 and 2016 she wasn't an offensive threat outside of layups but she could be counted on to chip in 6-8 points and 6-8 rebounds nearly every night. To see her match Griner's numbers 10 days ago and then have tonight's numbers is really frustrating.

Bill should rip them apart and tell them how soft they played and you can't take days off in the W...its a fact

I don't think there will be any sugar coating the performance at all. Not only from the physical effort aspect but also whatever mental errors on defense there were. The way they broke down NYs defense at will you have to figure there were plenty.

As soon as the Libs cut the lead to 9, CT immediately went on a 7-0 run...effortlessly. So many reminders that we don't have the talent to win on that alone, as Herb Brooks would say. I expected CT to be less physically engaging. I was wrong. However on Friday we play a team that is unequivocally NOT physically engaging. We play our game we'll win that one. Hopefully that's what happens and then we have a week to focus on payback vs. the Sun. It'll likely be a tough game but I don't expect a lack of energy to be NYs undoing.

yup just gotta regroup and take it out on Dallas, good thing i forgot to DVR this game lol i would of deleted it anyway.

No, Bill shouldn't "rip them apart." It's so easy for fans to flame out. It's a 34-game regular season. New York is playing, in Laimbeer's stated view, without three of our best seven players. They had a bad game. It happens. Even among great teams. And this is NOT a great team, even if Prince, Vaughn, and Boyd were all active.

There's a lot of focus here on Kiah Stokes and there should be. But Liberty fans have essentially bypassed Sugar Rodgers' shooting woes. Ten games isn't a huge sample, but I wouldn't call it a small sample. Rodgers is shooting 34% from the field. (Last year 40.5%.) She has too many halves where she is invisible offensively. Even when Prince returns, New York needs Rodgers to shoot well to have a successful season.

_________________Let's remember Anucha Browne, who was sexually harassed by Isiah Thomas. In recent years, she has served as a vice president of the NCAA focusing on women's basketball championships.

No, Bill shouldn't "rip them apart." It's so easy for fans to flame out. It's a 34-game regular season. New York is playing, in Laimbeer's stated view, without three of our best seven players. They had a bad game. It happens. Even among great teams. And this is NOT a great team, even if Prince, Vaughn, and Boyd were all active.

There's a lot of focus here on Kiah Stokes and there should be. But Liberty fans have essentially bypassed Sugar Rodgers' shooting woes. Ten games isn't a huge sample, but I wouldn't call it a small sample. Rodgers is shooting 34% from the field. (Last year 40.5%.) She has too many halves where she is invisible offensively. Even when Prince returns, New York needs Rodgers to shoot well to have a successful season.

Good point on Rodgers i agree but disagree on the excuse of missing players, the Sun is missing players also so its no excuse for them to play so poorly like this. its disappointing. but i think its a good wake up call to not take any team in the W so lightly...

Good point on Rodgers i agree but disagree on the excuse of missing players, the Sun is missing players also so its no excuse for them to play so poorly like this. its disappointing. but i think its a good wake up call to not take any team in the W so lightly...

"Taking them lightly" is more empty rhetoric. Do you have any evidence that any Liberty player took Connecticut lightly? All you or anyone knows is that New York played a lousy game. We all saw that.

How easy it is to sit at a computer and "know" what's inside the heads of professional athletes.

_________________Let's remember Anucha Browne, who was sexually harassed by Isiah Thomas. In recent years, she has served as a vice president of the NCAA focusing on women's basketball championships.

Bill should rip them apart and tell them how soft they played and you can't take days off in the W...its a fact

Looks like NYL played like the GSW Warriors in Game 4... Just expected to show up and win

That said, before Prince and Kia left, I predicted that with such a relatively easy schedule and being mostly at home, that NYL should still do very well. I predicted that they'd go 6-1 and they're still on track to do that.

I didn't expect NY to beat PHO and I didn't expect NY to lose vs CON. But hey, 6-1 is still 6-1... Laimbeer may even win Coach of the Month with that record!

Good point on Rodgers i agree but disagree on the excuse of missing players, the Sun is missing players also so its no excuse for them to play so poorly like this. its disappointing. but i think its a good wake up call to not take any team in the W so lightly...

"Taking them lightly" is more empty rhetoric. Do you have any evidence that any Liberty player took Connecticut lightly? All you or anyone knows is that New York played a lousy game. We all saw that.

How easy it is to sit at a computer and "know" what's inside the heads of professional athletes.

the "effort" and the "energy" wasn't there that's for sure so to me that's a sign of taking them lightly and if you watch Bill's postgame comments he said he knew it was gonna be a hard game but they was "feeling good about themselfs"

its a disappointing effort i was giving my opinion on the game Bob i know its a long season

Good point on Rodgers i agree but disagree on the excuse of missing players, the Sun is missing players also so its no excuse for them to play so poorly like this. its disappointing. but i think its a good wake up call to not take any team in the W so lightly...

"Taking them lightly" is more empty rhetoric. Do you have any evidence that any Liberty player took Connecticut lightly? All you or anyone knows is that New York played a lousy game. We all saw that.

How easy it is to sit at a computer and "know" what's inside the heads of professional athletes.

Put it this way. I wouldn't say "taking them lightly" or "rip them apart" per se. But I do think that whatever mistakes were made should definitely be firmly corrected and not sugar coated. I also think there was an obvious lack of energy from the opening tip. While not evidence of taking a team lightly, it does indicate a probability of being at least a little too comfortable with themselves.

On Rodgers, she's been disappointing. However, I think she's done some things well in terms of floor game, passing, free throw attempts and defense. Once the 3 ball turns around she'll be fine. Certainly we need more from her and had she been better maybe so would NYs record. But she could have had 25 tonight and the way our defense played we'd have probably still lost. And I haven't said more mainly because I think there's a number of things she's done well. Shooters can go through ebbs and flows. As a person who survived playing basketball strictly on hitting 3s at nearly 40 percent, I understand what that entails.

But no doubt she has to get it going. Soon. 10 games is more than a slump and it's nearly 30% of the season. If you have Tina, Piph, Z and Sugar all efficient on offense, this team gets damn good quickly.

_________________The poster formerly known as LibWNBAFan.

Last edited by NYL_WNBA_FAN on 06/14/17 9:41 pm; edited 1 time in total

Bill should rip them apart and tell them how soft they played and you can't take days off in the W...its a fact

Looks like NYL played like the GSW Warriors in Game 4... Just expected to show up and win

That said, before Prince and Kia left, I predicted that with such a relatively easy schedule and being mostly at home, that NYL should still do very well. I predicted that they'd go 6-1 and they're still on track to do that.

I didn't expect NY to beat PHO and I didn't expect NY to lose vs CON. But hey, 6-1 is still 6-1... Laimbeer may even win Coach of the Month with that record!

Hey man, I would be thrilled to get out of this stretch 5-2 even. Laimbeer definitely deserves credit for getting the most out of the remaining group, no doubt.

A terrible game defensively. I think they'll rebound from this and Charles will have a career night vs. Dallas on Friday. We then get a week off and face Connecticut again, but this time at MSG. I see us taking those two. Then we get Prince & Vaughn back. That's when the real test begins and who stands out on the team.

Also to me, especially early in the game, I thought they were very impatient when running offense. The lack of energy showed in their cuts and ball movement, neither of which were good. Not sharp at all, and it led to more 1-on-1 play than NY generally goes to. In this type of game, Piph's 1-on-1 ability might have made a difference in keeping NY afloat.

That was upsetting on a number of levels. But I think having CT take it to NY physically is the most disappointing part. The urgency level is much higher on CTs side.

Rodgers has largely been a non-entity on both ends. Defensively the Libs yielded uncontested shots to players for just about the entire first quarter and it's a team with good perimeter players. Toss in 20 paint points and NY is doing very little within its identity to deter a hot and confident offensive team.

I'd expect more Liberty type defense in the second half. Whether we have enough offense to eliminate a 15 point lead is open to question. Curt Miller appears to have scouted the Libs very well and has his team buying in on the defensive end. Other than Z creating her shot 1-on-1 and neutralizing Nayo, they've done a terrific job on help defense and taking away the strengths of Sugar, Tina and Kiah.

Among other things CT had only one first half TO. There were a few loose balls that the Libs just didn't get after. It speaks to the Libs being really lacking in the energy needed to win.

Lindsay Allen has also passed up a few wide open shots. The absence of Piph really shows in this game so far in terms of the sagging CT D.

Lindsey Allen is not in the lineup to shoot. She's in for rebounding -- plain and simple. Don't believe me? She led the team in rebounds tonight.

Is there anything Bentley does better than Williams that would warrant her being a starter when she returns?

You are working under the assumption that the WNBA and the team decision makers make decisions based solely on basketball merit, skill, and performance. I wish it worked that way; the WNBA would be a much better league than it actually is. But it doesn't. Politics/favoritism rules the day, and the quality of the league suffers.

_________________Oderint dum metuant - Let them hate, so long as they fear